Application Process 2022

This document/page provides information about the admission requirements, the selection process, and the application timeline. Please take some time to read it carefully. The admission office will not reply to questions and inquiries, if the corresponding answer is included in this document.

Admission Requirements

This is a competitive program that has a limited number of seats. To be considered for admission you must provide a University Entrance Qualification (UEQ) and choose one of three application tracks listed and detailed below.

The University Entrance Qualification

The central component of your application is a University Entrance Qualification enabling for direct access to study programs at German universities (UEQ). Without a UEQ, it is legally impossible to enroll. What constitutes a UEQ depends on various aspects (please see the Appendix below). We cannot assess whether your documents constitute a UEQ before you apply. We can only check your application documents after you submit your complete application. We will ignore any mail that asks us for an assessment of documents prior to an application.

Application Tracks

In addition to the UEQ you need to provide additional qualifications. You can do this in one of the following three tracks:

1. You provide documentation of having successfully participated in a science/informatics/mathematics olympiad, and results from an English test.
   (please refer to the Appendix for the requirements for the English test and the olympiads we accept.)
2. You provide the results of an aptitude test, and an English test.
   (please refer to the Appendix for the requirements for the English test and the aptitude tests we accept.)
3. You participate in a two-day (online) interview.

Note that you cannot apply for multiple tracks. You have to choose one when submitting your application. After you submit your application, you can no longer change between tracks.

Selection Criteria

After all documents you provided have been carefully examined, your UEQ grade will be combined with your track results into a score that gives you a position in a ranking of all participants. We admit the best N applicants from this ranking to the study program, where N depends on the number of available seats in the program.

Timeline

The program starts in the winter term in mid October. The application portal opens on November 15 of the previous year. Our final application deadline is July 15. However, if you want early feedback on your application (early accept or early conditional accept), you can apply to one of the earlier “preliminary review deadlines”: January 15, April 1 or June 15. See the next section for details.

After the final deadline, we review all applications within four weeks. The admission/rejection letters will be available by August 31 the latest. Please do not request status updates prior to this date. Note that if you want to apply in the interview track, you have to apply for one of the preliminary review deadlines (see below). In other words: Note that the interview track is only available if you apply until June 15. It is not available with deadlines after June 15.

Preliminary Review Deadlines

To provide timely feedback, we have three preliminary review deadlines (PRDs) on January 15, April 1 and June 15.

You can submit an application to one (and only one) of the PRDs by submitting before the last PRD deadline (June 15). The upcoming PRD will be the one you submitted to. You can submit to a PRD even if you do not have a UEQ yet. You have to provide the latest transcript/marksheet from your school so that we can check that you have a good chance of obtaining a UEQ.

All applications submitted to a PRD will be reviewed within four weeks after this PRD. Depending on the application track you choose and the documents you submit, one of the following will happen:

If you have not been notified of either an early admission, early conditional admission, or an interview invitation four weeks after the intermediary deadline you submitted to, your application is still active until the final deadline on July 15. You can upload new documents (UEQ, Aptitude or English test, Olympiad certificate) for the final deadline and we will re-review your documents. After the final deadline passed, we include you in the final ranking of all applicants. Our experience however is that, given the limited amount of seats we have, applicants who applied for a PRD and have not been admitted or conditionally admitted on that PRD have little chance of being admitted at all.

To choose the interview track, you must apply for one of the PRDs, i.e., by June 15 the latest. Note that you cannot re-apply for an interview if you have not been invited after a prior PRD or not been admitted after the interview.

Interviews

Interviews are held about five weeks after the respective PRD (see the schedule in the table below). If you applied for the interview track and are selected for the interview, we will notify you within four weeks. If you do not hear within four weeks, assume that you have not been selected for the interview and your application will be rejected (see Final Decisions below).

Interview dates are fixed and cannot be changed. You cannot postpone your interview to a later PRD round. If you do not appear for the interview on the date you are invited, you will be rejected automatically.

Please do not email us about the status of your application on the interview track, as you can determine that status following what is written above.

The interview itself consists of two rounds that are spread over two days: On the first day, you will take a math test, solving exercises that test your knowledge of algebra, geometry, and calculus. If you pass this test, on the second day, you will have a one-on-one interview with one of our faculty, who will assess your problem-solving and English skills. Please note that we cannot disclose further information about the nature of the test or the interview except that it will be based on standard high school mathematics (in all international curricula) and basic problem-solving skills, so do not email us about the syllabus or the contents of these.

Final Decisions

Final decisions about acceptance/rejection are communicated before August 31. The decision notification will include a formal confirmation letter. In case of acceptance, you will need this letter to enroll at the university.

Schedule 2022

Appendices

What is recognized as valid University Entrance Qualification?

The decisive source for this is the ANABIN database issued by the German federal government. Anabin classifies foreign school-leaving diplomas as either to be equivalent to a German university entrance qualification or specifies additional requirements. Unfortunately, ANABIN is available in German only. Below, you find instructions on how to use Anabin to check if your diploma is eligible. Additionally, here is a list of the most common cases per country.

1. Goto ANABIN and select your country.
2. You’re presented with a list of all certificates that are relevant for admission in German universities.
3. Select your certificate and a window opens that shows the eligibility with this certificate:
4. The relevant statement here is “Direkter Zugang (für alle Fächer)” or “Direkter Zugang (fachgebunden) zu allen Hochschulen”. This means that your certificate in principle equals a German university entrance qualification. “für alle Fächer” means that your UEQ is not limited to any subject where as “fachgebunden” means that your UEQ is limited to certain subjects. Any other statement there means that additional restrictions apply that you have to translate using an online translation service.

Examples

Most common school-leaving diplomas of EU countries are accepted without restrictions. In doubt, please check Anabin as described above.

• United Kingdom: Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) – Higher/Advanced Higher, General Certificate of Education – Advanced Level / Advanced
• Subsidiary Level, Cambridge Pre-U, AICE, International Advanced Level
• Switzerland: Matura (other special cases in Anabin)
• Albania: Deftese pjekurie with Certificate Matura Shteterore
• Turkey: Lise Diplomasi 11 years in conjunction with Turkish university admission exam documented by code card with more than 180000 points (in SAY, SÖZ, EA or DIL).
• Israel: Te’udat bagrut
• India: IIT Joint Entrance Exam (Main and Advanced)
• China: DSD-II School and gaokao (with APS-certificate)
• USA: High-School Diploma with advanced placement test (required grades specified in Anabin)

Olympiad Requirements

• Participation in the International Olympiad in Mathematics (IMO).
• Medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), Physics (IPhO) or Chemistry (IChO).
• Medal at a standard Mathematics Olympiad during the last two years of school or during university, that is beyond the country level, such as the Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO).
• Medal at a standard Informatics Olympiad during the last two years of school or during university, that is beyond the country level, such as the Baltic Olympiad in Informatics (BOI) or the Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI).
• Participation in the Inter-collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) beyond the country level.

Note that we cannot make any exception from this list.

Language Requirements

You need to provide a proof of English language proficiency for the Olympiad and Aptitude track unless your are a native speaker. We accept the following English tests:

• IELTS Academic Test
• TOEFL iBT Test
• TOEFL Essential
• Cambrigde Certificate

You are considered a native speaker if you obtained your high-school diploma in one of the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, USA. We cannot make any exceptions from this rule.

Accepted Aptitude Tests

• SAT Standard test (evidence-based reading/writing, maths) is sufficient. The essay is not required.
• TestAS
• ACT
• Gaokao
• JEE Advanced
• Suneung

Your test must not be older than 2 years. There are no minimum requirements on your score because we fill our seats by a ranking of all applicants. The programs are highly competitive however. Successful applications in past iterations came from the 95% percentile which corresponds to SAT scores 1400+.